• Why is this issue important?
The issue of drug abuse is important because drugs are chemicals that can change the way a person's body works. Some drugs can be bad for you but others could be good for you. When peopole talk about "abusing drugs" they usually mean using illegal drugs over and over for the wrong reasons. This issue is mostly important because most of the people who use them are teens. This can be a huge problem because drugs mostly affect people whos body is still growing and developing. When your an adult your body is basically done and is formed. Drugs can manipulate your brain and can make you do bad things and it is hard for you to do sports or just your everyday things.
  • How does it impact the lives of teens especially at NWHS?
This issue impacts the lives of teen especilaly at NWHS because the students want to fit in. Every student wants to find away to fit in whether its with clothes, drugs, shoes, cars, and alcohol. Dugs impact students here a lot. Students lose interest in their sports or grades. Then you have other students going aroud talking about the students who abuse drugs. This impacts them physically and emotionally.
  • How common is this issue among teens?
- In the U.S., about 3,000 teens smoke their first tobacco cigarette each day. About one-third of those adolescents become daily smokers.
- While the use of most drugs by teenagers has decreased since 2001, the abuse of Oxycontin, a narcotic, has increased to 5% of 10th-graders in 2004.
I think this issue is very common in teens and it shouldn't be. Teens start drugs because they usually have friends or family members who do drugs and that is how they got introduced to the idea.